Alasdair1

Thats the range. As said RP90 is my go to for rusty nuts/bolts

I get AC90 and RP90 from toolstation. Works well and slightly cheaper. I have been using the RP90 a lot and is great for soaking rusty nuts/bolts overnight. The RP90 is a fine penatrating oil. AC90 is like wd40 .hey also do silicone and white grease etc. Prefer the can design to wd40 as well. Alasdair

Probem with wd40 etc is they dont last long. Great for unseizing etc but not long term protection and lubrication. I had to get some 00 semi liquid grease for an industrial gearbox and have some left so started to use on bonnet latches etc. It soaks in well and protects the mechanism and so far has lasted. I just use a paint brush to apply it.

Even if he has to replace master cylinder its an extra £150 which would't cover an hours labour in fraanchise garage. Friends pay £200 per hour labour!! See if he could do the whole lot at the same time for £600? I reckon thats a good price. Alasdair

If the pedal is gong to the floor its either air or a bad master/slave cylinder but at 100,000 the clutch will be pretty near past it. I changed my slave on a 1.2 without removing box. I removed gear selector to get more room. Its only two bolts on mine. Main problem was pushing and holding slave in to get the bolts back in but if he is offering a new clutch etc for £500 all in then I would go for it. I ended up changing my sons clutch and it was not that easy without garage lift. If he is doing the clutch make sure he uses LUK / Sachs. They are about £30-40 more expensive but they are decent and I find they last. The LUK kit I got had a new pressure plate,clutch disk,release bearing and fork. It was £86-00 from parts in motion. Slave was around £30. I was quoted £600 from a mobile mechanic. Most garages are a good bit more. I did mine for aprox £160 when changing my sons. I wouldn't have gone for it at £600 but after doing it myself I reckon its a pretty good price plus if there are any problems he will have to sort it. Alasdair

Think some vehicles need a trigger code to get the car to start learning that theres a new sensor fitted or you can have the battery disconnected for a while which sometimes works. Most do it automaticaly but mates landrover needed to be plugged in to clear certain ecu codes especially ABS and laamda etc if new sensors are fitted. Just clearing the fault codes didn't work. The ECU had to be told they were new so it could start learning. Glad you got to the bottom of it and it was a rrelatively simple fix Alasdair

Thinking back if theres a bit of blackish soot on back of car and the airfilter is ok then maybe injectors(bad pattern) or intercooler full of oil. I once tried filling fuel filter with injector cleaner, It supposedly cleans injectors a lot better than an in tank additive. This was years ago on an old toyota people carrier as a last resort and it worked well but not sure if its a good or bad idea on a more modern skoda?? Have you had it read for fault codes? I(appologies if I missed it previously). Alasdair

One of mine is an 08 1.9tdi with the pd BXE engine. It has a cat but no DPF something about the pd engine not liking them or so i've heard. It confused me as the DPF light came on on mine but didn't have one. Tracked that one down to the dash connector.

I agree my octavia was absolutely disgusting. Full of black tar like gunge. The EGR valve was even worse. How it was operating I don't know. I think you can get a cleaner for in fuel but I just removed mine and soaked in kerosene and then cleaned. Made a big difference. Revs when idling were all over the place before cleaning plus got much better MPG afterwards.

My old octavia had high emissions and just passed a few years back. Mot tester noticed oil at intercooler pipe which on checking was partly blocked. It might be worth a check. I had a worn turbo and also one of the pipes wasn't sealing properly. There was a fair bit of oil and gunge in there. I took it off and flushed it out and fitted a second hand turbo. Next time emissions were ok. Alasdair

I was wondering that myself. It might be worth asking MOT place why its 0.85 instead of 3 ? I assume as its marked applied then its inputed manually. Might have been a fat finger moment when keying in the info to the anylser? If your getting a bit of black soot I reckon check the air filter. Also the temp shows 82 which is ok but wondering if they warmed car up first?

It does sound like one of them has failed and fluid is getting past the seals or there is air getting into the system somehow. Every car I have had that clutch pedal went to floor and didn't return was either the master or slave. I think its happened around 5 times now over the years. Most were Master but I just replaced both. Some were easy like Volvo 940 others not. To do the master on my Octavia was tricky. You could see the part but getting to it was damn near impossible as it was behind the engine and low down without a garage ramp plus pedal assembly had to be removed plus part of lower dash etc Shouldn't take them too long to do it as they will have ramps and hope it solves the problem. Alasdair

I would get a slave as well. For all the cost plus you then know they are both new plus your going to be bleeding it anyway. If its the original clutch at 100000 then I would replace the slave as well anyway as a matter of course. When my master went I reckon the fluid was getting past the seals a while before it started leaking. It does say if I remember corrrectly to get new bolts when fitting master cylinder. I didn't bother and its been fine for over a year. I took them off and got the part number from them to make sure I got the correct ones as my car had an option of two different ones. Like said try parts in motion. Its free delivery and for an extra few quid you can get next day. Been using them for a while now as they are about 1/3 cheaper than my local motorfactors and so far service has been excellent.

Might be air filter related. I just did my sons clutch and had stuffed a rag into air intake on top of engine just in case anything went down there when I had engine cover off. Forgot to remove it and had same problems. Removed rag and EPC light stopped coming on. The old code of P0171 is I think mixture too lean so also perhaps was fuel filter/fuel system. If theres no new stored codes not sure what else it may be. May have to keep driving until it stays on or stores a code. Alasdair

Meant to add It could be electrical. Does the dash go blank when it happens or are there all the ignition lights on. If all the lights are still on it might be a fuel pump issue or fuel cut off. I think the pump is in tank. Not sure what number fuse on yours or if the pump has a relay? If its fuel related I doubt it would throw up a code, Car probably thinks its ran out of diesel I have in the past cars that have had fuel pump problems. One had an in tank filter that came loose and started floating about so when tank was half empty started drawing in air. If its running well most of the time I doubt injector cleaner would help. Alasdair

Odd there are no codes etcc. Could be air getting into diesel system or a long shot but not sure if the fuel cap is vented. Had an old van that did the same. Fuel cap vent was blocked and caused a vacuum. would stop randomly and then after a while would start again. Eventually stopped completely as bottom of tank caved in under vacuum and blocked fuel uptake. I assumed it was an in tank filter. Alasdair

Thats correct the one reservoir does both and must be split somehow as I still had brakes when the clutch failed. Think the level warning is for brakes only. Its a nightmare to check the fluid level by eye as the tanks are not that clear.

When mine went to the floor I used to raise it back up with my foot a couple of times and it seemed to cure itself. Lasted for a good few weeks then failed completely. In my case it was the Master that leaked. When it went completely every time the clutch was pressed it pumped fluid out. If I remember the pipe from the reservoir or the pipe from the master clips into the cylinder. On my octavia there is a small rubber grommet that goes into the master cylinder with the pipe. Its not that obvious and can get left stuck in the old one. Make sure its fitted if not theres no seal. Alasdair

I just replaced my slave and it was around £30-00 from parts in motion https://www.partsinmotion.co.uk Think the master is about £40-00 That was on a 1.2 06 plate fabia mk1. I used Sachs if I remember correctly. Not sure of your engine/gearbox . Is there any fluid leaking. The slave on mine is external mounted but operates inside gearbox housing. I took mine out to check and the rubber gator was split inside box and as I was replacing clutch did it as well. It may not be master/slave but perhaps sticking release bearing etc. At 100,000 I reckon the clutch must be pretty worn if its the original. Check around drivers footwell and also back of engine on mine below brake reservoir for leaks from the master. Had an octavia that leaked there and pedal would randomly go straight to floor and not return Fluid was landing on undertray so didn't notice leak until it got winched onto recovery truck. On a rare occcasion the flexi hose that connects to the slave can colapse internally. I reckon aroud £80-00 in parts if you do it yourself, Not sure what garage labour would be. Slave is fairly easy but master takes a bit more time and if its like the Octavia requires pedal removal etc. I used a gunson pressure bleeder on mine. Alasdair

My MOT garage had a problem getting my 1.2 through the emissions test as well. There was a tiny leak at the joint in the centre pipe. Covered it in sealant and emissions were spot on. Reckon the system is very sensitive to leaks or reduced back pressure. I had fitted a new front exhaust and didn't get the seal right at the join. It was so small you couldn't hear it but the MOT guy noticed a bit of black soot around the joint an sealed it up. Alasdair

Just done the clutch on mine. It wasn't slipping at all then totaly failed. I replaced slave cylinder and bled system first to see if it would help. (Note when I took the slave out the inner gator was split and looked like it was about to start leaking). On gearbox removal the friction disc had disintegrated on the pressure plate side. If the clutch isn't slipping you could always try to set the cables. Its pretty simple and solved my poor gear changes before clutch went. Theres a Utube vid that I used. It might help plus doesnt take long. Alasdair

Hi there, Clutch is finaly in and car all back together. Got a bit worried at first as wasn't very good but after about 20 secs its spot on. Reckon it just needed settling/bedding in. Clutch pedal felt ok but bled system again and got a few tiny air bubbles out. The plastic slave bleed nipple has to be opened a good bit to get it to bleed. Bite point is low but I expect it will rise slightly with use. Gear changes are smooth and easy. I don't drive this car much so nothing really to compare it with but it seems good. Managed to sort the brakes at the same time. When I was under car looking up I noticed the hose from the servo was split at every joint. Not long enough to cut and reuse. Taped up just now and will try and source some replacements. Cost me £120 in parts LUK clutcch kit plus slave and some brake fluid plus £50 for a support beam so happy with that. Was quoted around £700 from a mobile mechanic but he said it could be more once he got into it. God knows what a garage would charge these days. Many thanks again for all your help and advice. Alasdair

If only they made them on galvanized chassis etc. They would last for years. Probably last too long for the manufacturer though. Good luck with the strip down and I hope you don't find too much welding. They are total workhorses and do get abused a lot. Alasdair

His had a plastic liner but underneath it was just holes. Even the chassis was like cardboard in places. Past an MOT one year and was actually condemed the next. We reckon the bolt holes or what was left of them held a salt spreader out the back. He sold it on for parts and got most of his money back as the engine was a pretty new replacement and low miles plus seats,lights etc were good. Everything else was scrap. Alasdair

Mine is an 06 but no rust at all apart from front wishbones which I have to replace at some point to. I think mine originally was devon/cornwall. Going to get it properly cleaned underneath and then Either dinitrol or lanoguard. Used to use waxoil but new stuff isnt quite the same. Have had good results with Bilt hamber hydrate 80 rust killer and was looking at their rustproofing Dynax UB and Dynax UC. Will have to wait a bit as got a few other bits I neeed to do first. At least the clutch seems good now. Havent road tested it as still puting bits back on it. My son in law had an L200 and god it was bad for rust. Looked good as it was jacked up with massive off road tyres but absolutely rotten. I reckon it was used for hauling salt. He got rid of it as I don't think the tub was actually attached to the car anymore and bought a galvanised chassis LR110